Packing gland for valve stem



y 1958 EL H. STONICH ETAL 2,844,392

PACKING GLAND FOR VALVE STEM Original Filed June 27, 1952 v j]Jnz/en7@?@:

Zzuoodfd SZZWM'C/L ibwal'rlfi. 777007 9 United States Patent ()72,844,392 PACKING GLAND FOR VALVE STEM Elwood H. Stonich, Chicago, andEdward B. Moore,

La Grange Park, Ill., assignors to Vapor Heating Corporation, Chicago,111., a corporation of Delaware Original application June 27, 1952,Serial No. 295,987. Divided and this application August 25, 1954, SerialNo. 452,186

4 Claims. (Cl. 286-7) This invention relates to an improved packinggland for a valve stem.

The subject matter of the present invention was originally disclosed inour co-pending application Serial 295,987, filed June 27, 1952, of whichthe present application is a division.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide improved meansfor packing a valve stem so as to insure that the packing will bepressed by a constant and uniform sealing pressure against the valvestem and its surrounding housing to prevent leakage and which will alsosimplify the installation of the packing in the gland struc ture, avoidundue binding of the valve stem in the packing and also prevent unduetampering with the packing gland.

According to the invention, a series of packing rings arranged within acylindrical recess in a housing structure are pressed, by means of acoil spring, into sealing engagement with the surface of a valve stemand the adjacent Walls of said cylindrical recess. An abutment for'theouter end of said spring is positioned in a transverse slot formed inthe housing so as to maintain the spring under a predeterminedcompression. The said abutment is in the form of a plate formed with anopening through which the valve stem extends and thereby provides aninterlocking engagement between the valve stem and the said abutment tohold the latter in its applied position.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top view in elevation of a fragmentary portion of a valvehousing and a bonnet attached thereto and containing the improvedpacking gland of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the structure shown in Fig. 1, thesection being taken on line 2--2 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken through Fig. 2 substantially online 3-3 to illustrate the position of an abutment element for retainingthe packing elements in position.

Referring to the drawing: The invention is illustrated in connectionwith a valve housing 10 and a bonnet 11 secured thereto and enclosing avalve operating stem 12. The said bonnet 11 has a threaded engagementwith the valve housing 10 and cooperates with a portion thereof todefine an inlet chamber 13 for receiving steam or other fluids from asupply passage 14. The inner end of the valve stem 12 is provided with-avalve 15 for controlling the opening and closing of a port 16 formed ina remov able valve seat element 17. The outer end of the valve stem 12extends through a central bore of a screw threaded element 18 and isfixed thereto by means of a clamp nut 19. The said screw element 18 hasthreaded engagement with internal threads 20 formed in the outer end ofthe bonnet 11 so that inner and outer threading movements of the element18 moves the valve stem 12 lengthwise of the bonnet 11 and thereby movesthe valve 15 into and out of its port closing position. In order2,844,392 Patented July 22, 1958 ice 2 v to facilitate operation of thescrew element 18 its outer end is provided with a handwheelZl.

The bonnet 11 includes a chamber22 for containing suitable packing forthe valve stem 12. is preferably of the chevron type and includes a pairof metallic adaptor rings 23-24 between which a plurality ofcompressible packing rings 25 are positioned. The opposing faces of thesaid adaptor rings 23--24 are formed with configurations correspondingto the contours of the adjacent surfaces of the chevron packing rings. Acoil spring is interposed between the adaptor ring 24 and an abutmentplate 27 so as to exert pressure against the packing rings and therebypress them with uniform pressure into sealing engagement with the valvestem 12 and the cylindrical wall of the chamber 22. The abutment plate27 is inserted into a preferably close fitting slot 28 which extendshalf-way through the bonnet 11. One portion 29 of the abutment plate 27has a diameter corresponding to the external diameter of thetransversely slotted portion of the bonnet 11 and another portion 30 ofsaid abutment plate is curved to fit the curvature of the packingchamber 22. The valve stem 12, it will be observed, extends through anopening 32 formed in the said abutment plate 27 and thereby holds theplate in its operative position within the slot 28. When the abutmentplate 27 is in its applied position the lateral shoulders 3333 extendingfrom the curved edge portion 30 to the outer surface 29 seat against theend walls of the slot 28.

A cylindrical screen 34 is positioned in the inlet chamber 13 betweenthe supply passage 14 and the port 16.

Inasmuch as the present invention is directed to the improved packinggland hereinabove described, the valve 15 and the associated valvehousing 10 are described only in general terms and reference may be hadto our said co-pending application Ser. No. 295,987 for their detailedconstructions.

We claim:

1. A packing gland structure for a valve stem comprising, incombination, a housing formed with an axial bore providing a packingchamber having a cylindrical side wall and an end wall and the housingbeing formed with a transverse slot having end walls which extendradially outwardly from the cylindrical side wall of the packing chamberto the outer surface of the housing, said end Walls are at least fromeach other measured on the slotted circumference of the packing chamberside wall, a valve stem extending through said axial bore, and means forsealing the space between the valve stem and the housing comprisingpacking material positioned in said packing chamber, a helical springsurrounding said valve stem within said packing chamber in a position toexert pressure against the packing material to force it into sealingengagement with the valve stem and the side wall of said chamber, and anabutment plate for said spring positioned in said transverse slotperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said chamber for holding saidspring under compression, and the said abutment plate being formed withan opening for receiving said valve stem, whereby the abutment plate isheld against movement in said transverse slot.

2.A packing gland structure according to claim 1 characterized in thatthe packing material comprises a plurality of rings of V-configurationin cross-section arranged in nested relation between a pair of metallicring elements having opposing faces formed with configurations fornesting with the configurations of adjacent rings of packing material.

3. A packing gland structure according to claim 2 characterized in thata portion of the perimeter of said The packing 1 abutment plate is inalignment with the external surface of the housing and another portionof the perimeter of said abutment plate conforms to the contour of saidpacking chamber.

4. A packing gland structure according to claim 3 characterized in thatsaidabutment plate is provided with radial surfaces for seating againstthe end Walls of said transverse slot.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Russell et al. July 13, 1920 Thomas Oct. 26, 1926Dorward Nov. 16, 1943 Neumann July 9, 1946 Harrison May 11, 1948

